


Flowers in the dust

by Steangine



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: AU, M/M, apocalypse au, bittersweet fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-28 12:53:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8446555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steangine/pseuds/Steangine
Summary: Humanity destroyed the world and keeps destroying humanity itself. Aomine Daiki brings the scars of their insanity, in a world where life itself resembles death. [Apocalypse AU]





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was meant for the AoKuro week but didn't finish it in time.

Something fell inside the trap.

Aomine heard the bell ringing and he hoped it wasn’t only because of a Daptile. Those flying creatures infested that area and their main occupation was taking rocks and letting them fall from the sky over and over until they became too tired to fly. Daptiles nourished on underbrush, didn’t need any type of liquid to survive and the scarce flesh attacked on their thin but strong bones was poisonous. So they were basically one of the many leftover joke born from the foolishness of humans, the so called Ground Zero that erased half of the humankind and drove nuts the other half.

Humans thought they could play God and someone -God, mother nature or whatever- remembered them they couldn’t in the cruelest way possible. Or that was the official version that was foisted on to everyone and passed down through the centuries.

Aomine kneeled on the edge of the ditch and stared at the very bottom: something small was crawling down there, so not definitely a Daptile. Yet Aomine, to avoid any surprise, raised his head and inspected the sky. Oh, how much he hated working in that area with those stupid giant things with wings that could have killed him just because they loved throwing rocks from the sky.

He looked back and realized he had captured a person who had stopped trying to climb on the smooth surface at the very moment his face appeared from the edge. Aomine wondered what that person was feeling. Scared? Relieved? Both?

On a scale from zero to whatever, he wasn’t hungry enough to eat another person like him. He massaged his face -damn the beard was growing back- before starting a conversation.

“Hey you!” Aomine stood up. “I’m taking you out of there!”

No reply, just a nod.

“Uhm… not a talkative person huh?”

That person was much lighter than Aomine expected. And also shorter, he pointed out mentally when that stranger was standing in front of him with his head completely covered in a ruined scarf and the face buried in a gas mask.

“Here the air is quite okay. You can spare those filters for another time.”

The stranger nodded and silently freed himself from the mask. A boy, he looked quite young and tired; his face was pale and dirty, the eyes clear blue and the hair a messy nest. Aomine quickly analyzed him and relegated him in the “no dangerous” zone of his mental scheme of living creatures.

“You know how much does it take to prepare that trap? Be careful where you step next time.”

The boy clapped his hands together once and made a tiny bow. Aomine recognized that physical way of asking sorry, he saw it once in a town of the Northern Surface. He expected to hear some excuses, however the boy stared at him with an attentive look.

“Well.” Aomine blurted out to cut off that silence. “What are you doing in the middle of the Zone 5? Are you a Seeker?”

Again, the boy didn’t reply but shook his head before taking the rucksack off his shoulders. While he rustled inside his bag, Aomine judged him with a quick look: everything in his clothes was too old and ruined to be worth just the effort of taking them off. Maybe the sack contained something interesting, but Aomine doubted it.

“What are those?”

A note and a pen. The boy opened at the first page, already written, and showed it.

_ * I’m Kuroko Tetsuya. I have no more my phonatory organs, so I can’t speak. Nice to meet you * _

“Ah… a half-human.”

Aomine knew the term used to describe them was a bit insulting and neither exact, however he didn’t really mind.

Kuroko nodded, then he turned the pages towards the end and started writing. He was quite fast and Aomine was amazed by the pen moving smoothly on the paper.

_ * Thank you for helping me and sorry if I ruined your trap * _

Aomine didn’t find the will of getting angry with him. “Nah, I don’t think something edible would have fell down there.”

Kuroko took something from the rucksack and reached it out to Aomine. It was a can of food. Aomine didn’t like the K-pap, they looked like red and delicious berries but tasted like crap and were soggy, despite providing a huge range of nutrients. However, he only looked like a rude and alone Seeker -he had worked hard to have that fame-, in reality he knew his manners.

“Oh. Thank you.”

He looked at Kuroko and the bump of scarf on his back, that Aomine thought was just a huge hood, started moving. Aomine stepped back, touching his holster with the fingers.

A black mask in a shape of a snout timidly moved. Kuroko took off the little mask, and a black nose sniffed the air. When the head came out, Aomine thought that maybe in his trap actually fell something worth the inconvenience. Dogs where a rare breed and that little one, with curious blue eyes, was really beautiful: sold at the black market, it would have brought some dough to his pocket. And the boy too, who was taking the scarf off, at a second look wasn’t really that bad under all that dirt; probably he was really the type of some rich pervert who was ready to give money to satisfy his hidden desires.

Whatever. Aomine was just a Seeker and his job was to find objects worth money for the black market. And he knew who would have gladly accepted such merchandise.

“Hey. Are you lost?”

Aomine felt like grinning when Kuroko nodded.

“Then let’s make a deal.”

Those words caught Kuroko’s attention, who stared at him with a concentrated expression.

“I’m going to bring you to the closer town and you–“ He quickly tried to make up for an exchange. “–give me that watch.”

Kuroko raised his right arm, showing an old and broken watch. He raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

“Yes, that one. I know a person who takes old watches. I don’t know what she does with them, but who cares. If she pays me, I’ll bring her whatever she wants. That’s a Seeker job.”

Aomine wasn’t sure he managed to deceive him and he wasn’t really in the mood to bring around a struggling weigh that didn’t want to follow him. Then Kuroko smiled and he felt relieved.

“Well then. It’s a deal.”

Aomine reached out his hand, receiving a puzzled look.

“Uhm… when you make a deal you usually shake hands.”

Kuroko tilted his head, but still didn’t looked so sure. Aomine forcefully grasped his hand and shook it.

“Like this. Now we have a deal.”

_ And I have a lot of money running towards me. _

He could feel the weight of the money filling his pockets.

 

 

 

Before the gray clouds above their heads turned pitch black, they managed to reach a Spot. Spots weren’t proper towns as they didn’t rely on the energy taken from the Earth, but they had it stored in some containers periodically filled. Those areas in the most dangerous zones had been created mostly for Seekers to have safe shelters during their works; people without a regular authorization had to pay a fee to enter the walls and most of the times the guardians of the gates pretended a price higher than needed.

Aomine fell on the tiny cot and sighed. That Spot was one of the worsts, the rooms were always small and that time he wasn’t alone; he and Kuroko occupied great part of the area and there were barely three steps from the cots and the door. The owner of that hostel probably remembered how Aomine once seduced and made her daughter entering his bed in the middle of the night, since that hole didn’t even have a single window or a light: almost certainly they received the worst.

Aomine took out a sphere from his bag and tapped on it. It turned on, illuminating the small room. Kuroko kneeled next to the lamp and observed the shadow moving beyond the colored glass.

“I received this for a work. Inside there’s a Licht; it took me a while to teach it to light up only when I tap on the glass. Before it turned on whenever it was awake.”

Aomine opened the lamp and Kuroko observed a pair of transparent wings on a tiny round body emitting light; for how the wings were whirling fast, the Licht didn’t produce a single sound.

“Licht are quite rare, I’ve been lucky.” He adjusted the lamp behind the sad flaccid pillows. “At least the food was pretty good for their standards.”

Kuroko didn’t eat a lot, so Aomine kept staring at him, as if he was due to faint at any moment. However, Kuroko looked fine while reading a book with the dog curled on his stomach.

“I know it’s not my business, but what were you doing in Zone 5? You aren’t a Seeker and this area, well, it’s losing its appeal for us too.”

That was true. Zone 5 didn’t have much more to offer and it was steadily losing its tiny bits of life day by day.

Aomine had to wait for Kuroko to close his book and taking out the notebook. In the process, the dog woke up but didn’t move from his temporary nest.

_ * I’m looking for a person. * _

“A Seeker?”

_ * No. An Inhuman. * _

“The one who has your…”

Aomine pointed at his own throat. Kuroko shook his head.

_ * No. That one died, I witnessed it. This one has my friend’s heart. * _

“I thought that hearts couldn’t bear the process of upgrade…” Before Kuroko could reply, he changed topic. “By the way, I haven’t asked yet: what’s the dog’s name?”

_ * Tetsuya Nigou * _

“Oh, hey. You share the name.”

Then they had nothing more to say.

The Licht fell asleep earlier than Aomine thought. He wondered if he had to awaken him, as Kuroko couldn’t write in that darkness, however his sharp eyes perceived his figure still on the bed and Aomine decided it was time to sleep.

 

 

 

The following day Nigou understood Aomine wasn’t a threat, so he woke him up eagerly licking his face. Kuroko wrote down _* Sorry *_ and kept waving that word in front of Aomine’s eyes.

They left the Spot right after breakfast, a slice of bread with a sinister jam they devoured without asking anything; if they had, probably they wouldn’t have eaten it anymore. Aomine hoped to find a ride to Fortuna Town, but no one was departing that day.

“We won’t be able to reach the following Spot tonight, so if we leave, we’ll have to sleep outside.”

Kuroko agreed with a nod.

Despite his weak appearance, Kuroko kept Aomine’s pace, ignoring the obvious physical signs of tiredness that started showing after their first meal. Before the sky turned dark, Aomine decided to stop near a collection of concave stones. Kuroko almost fell down instead of sitting and didn’t move.

“Tomorrow we’ll arrive to the Spot.” Aomine purposely ignored his short breath. “From there desert ships depart twice a week, if we are lucky enough we’ll reach Fortuna within two days.”

Kuroko nodded again. They hadn’t talked all day long, Aomine only made questions that assumed a yes or no answer. It was strange not being alone but feeling almost like being. Not because Kuroko couldn’t talk, but because his presence was so evanescent that Aomine found himself turning around to see if Kuroko was still there more than he wanted to admit.

“There, there.”

Nigou was the only one who was unaffected by the long journey and kept going to and fro from Kuroko’s legs to Aomine’s, who gladly played with him. After dinner, Kuroko took out his note.

_ * Aomine-kun looks a lot towards the sky * _

“Uh? Really?”

_ * Yes. Don’t you like it? * _

“Nah… it doesn’t bother me either.”

The sky was composed of different shades of swollen grey. The Elders who lived on the planet before Ground Zero called them clouds on the books they left for human’s lineage; Aomine read it somewhere, he didn’t remember exactly where. But that was the sky that gave them a gloomy and feeble light which turned down at some point of the day without any blurring of the shadows and a darker line run on the ground until everything turned dark. Even among rich people only few could afford buying a device called Reasers that measured the exact moment when the dim day became pitch darkness.

Aomine didn’t like to stay outside during the darkness.

_ * I don’t like the sky. I think it should be orange * _

“The sky is blue.”

Kuroko made a silent question by frowning.

“I think it should be blue.” Aomine corrected. “It’s better we sleep, before we get up, before we’ll reach the Spot.”

Aomine didn’t manage to fall asleep soon, so, in the middle of the darkness, he felt Kuroko’s arm leaning over his chest. He was warm and his breath was almost indiscernible. A soft and slow sound that soon became pleasant like a lullaby and Aomine closed his eyes.

Once again Nigou woke him up in the morning. Aomine heard the sound of his paws rasping on the ground and when he opened his eyes he saw him proudly covering his excrements with the hard soil. Kuroko was still sleeping curled near him with the forehead pressed on his shoulder. Aomine took his time to examine his face better; he hadn’t particular features, however it had been a while he saw a person with such a white skin. Kuroko could have turned into a beautiful and peculiar merchandise to sell together with the dog.

Aomine moved his bangs away from the forehead and Kuroko slowly opened his sleepy eyes. He lazily stroked them with the back of his right hand, then finally noticed Aomine. Kuroko moved his lips as if he was articulating some words; yet from his mouth nothing came out. He realized it and opened his eyes wide before turning so fast towards his rucksack that Aomine sat down in surprise. Kuroko turned with his note opened at an already written page.

_ * Good morning * _

He seemed a bit embarrassed, his eyes weren’t looking directly at Aomine but at his chest. Aomine ruffled his hair.

“Good morning! Are you hungry?”

Nigou barked and jumped on Aomine’s sack, as if he understood his words. Kuroko nodded with relief.

The breakfast was pitiful, however their mood got better when they reached the Spot. The appearance of the buildings in metal made them understand they were closer to civilization and the small harbor of the desert ships, even in its simplicity of some artificial blocks put one next to the other, was a ray of hope.

_ * I’m hungry * _

That was the first time Aomine read that sentence on Kuroko’s notes.

“Ah, so you feel something.”

Kuroko frowned at Aomine’s grin.

“Well, you always have that…” He pointed at his face. “Mono-expression, you know.”

They bought some food and ate it in the room of the hostel. It was much different from the previous one; they could move freely and there was a bathroom with a shower. Tiny, but a shower. Aomine could barely move in it, yet the water was running on his skin and he didn’t mind anything else. Ah, he was tired. But just one, maximum two days, and he would have reached Fortuna, sold Kuroko with Nigou and received his money in exchange. Yes, he would. The water fell on his forehead, sliding on his face. He licked his lips, tasting the strong flavor of the water.

When he exited the bathroom he only had a tank top covering his torso. He almost let himself fell down on the bed and felt a weight close to him. He remembered he wasn’t alone anymore and looked at Kuroko.

“Ah. I didn’t see you…”

Kuroko was sitting with his legs crossed and the same book he read during the breaks of their short journey. He was staring down at him. Aomine lazed himself in the sweet sensation of being object of admiration and swelled with pride; he opened a bit more his legs, showing his limps member, and faked that everything was just a casual movement to find a more comfortable position. If only he didn’t have to sell Kuroko, probably he would have tried to seduce him. He wasn’t a great beauty, but nor someone to throw out from the bed.

“You like the view?”

At least he could have fun teasing him.

However, Aomine froze when Kuroko leaned the index on his right arm. He hoped for a second he was aiming for one of the countless tiny scars he had scattered all over his body, however he pointed at the most disguised one, that whose color was not clearer but almost the same as his skin.

Kuroko pointed his clear blue eyes at him and Aomine diverted his gaze. He heard the pen writing, but didn’t turn immediately to read. He was thankful that Kuroko waited for him instead of showing him the note.

_ * Is Aomine-kun an Inhuman? * _

Aomine just stared at him in silence. Kuroko pulled up his left sleeve and showed a black number carved inside his flesh.

_ * I met an Inhuman that had your same kind of scar on the arm * _

They marked the donators on their left arm. And the receivers on their right. Aomine remembered it well and Kuroko too. They made it like it was impossible for them to forget.

“Almost everyone tried to cover the marks, I guess.” Aomine scratched his head. “So, now what are you going to do?”

Watching Kuroko write down made him nervous until he revealed the page.

_ * You promised you would have brought me to Fortuna. And put on some pants or you’ll catch a cold * _

Aomine threw the cushion at Kuroko with a laugh.

“You are really a strange one.”

 

 

 

The desert ship was filled with living beings of different species. Aomine was glad that in the midst of all that ruckus of people grasped from every harbor around Fortuna nobody noticed nor Kuroko nor Nigou. He was walking with an arm on Kuroko’s shoulders and they stopped only when they reached a little corner comfortable enough to be a nest for one voyage. Sitting on a curl of blankets, Aomine made Kuroko lean against his body.

“Like this they probably won’t come and bother us. Usually those who come here to rob people target those who are alone.”

That was why he preferred using his legs or a ride. Unfortunately, his last Choro, a giant reptile with wings and feathers, was killed by the rock of a Daptile. Aomine ate his ride and used the bones of that damned flying animal to build traps.

Kuroko didn’t show any sign of unease and curled up against him.

“Are you hungry?”

He shook his head.

“Hey, if Tetsu needs to pee, tell me.”

Kuroko raised his head.

“Tetsu. Tetsu is Nigou.”

The lights were almost off, but Kuroko managed to write anyway.

_ * A nice nickname * Then _ , right behind, there was another sentence _* I’d like to take a peek outside *_

“We can’t. And by now the sky has already switched off.”

Around them there were different people. Some were muttering, others were still and looked like they were sleeping. A couple stood up and walked away in the dark corridor, the only visible exit from that hangar.

“Hey, Tetsu…”

Aomine was lost in the observation of their temporary companions, so he didn’t really know how much time had passed since when he last spoke to Kuroko. He hadn’t moved since they took that corner.

“…you know, once I read that the sky was blue. On one of those old books made of those things… the trees.” He was mumbling so low that he wasn’t even sure that Kuroko could hear. “The Cult of the Reborn asked me to find it. They paid me well and I peeked at the images. They never discovered it.”

He revealed that secret with a hint of excitation on his voice, as if he was telling something he was pride of to someone he looked up to. Aomine looked down, sure that Kuroko was sleeping, but he was gazing at him with sleepy eyes. Aomine bended towards him with a slow move and their lips brushed lightly. That wasn’t even a good kiss, Aomine realized when he retreated, however Kuroko didn’t try to stop him, nor wriggled away. He put the head again on his chest. Nigou, hid behind Kuroko’s wrap, sighed in his sleep.

Aomine closed his eyes and when he opened it again, someone was shouting from somewhere that they were approaching Fortuna. He was surprised himself that he fell in a deep sleep in such a place. He looked around and realized Kuroko was sitting next to him with his note ready.

_ * Good morning * _

He smiled and both acted as if that kiss never happened, preparing himself to get down.

From the desert ship to the actual entrance of the city there was a long living queue that proceeded so slow, it was already again time to eat when they trespassed the high walls. The suspended road brought directly to the central levels of the city and Kuroko followed the stream until Aomine dragged him away to a secondary branch that sank inside a deep darkness.

Aomine felt the sensation of a corner of the note touching his elbow and stopped.

“What?”

Kuroko opened the note at a page where was written a huge _* What’s happening? *_

“Shortcut.”

In front of him there was a crossroads. Bringing Kuroko down meant selling him to the best offer; bringing him up meant for him more chances of surviving.

Once again Kuroko hit Aomine with the note.

_ * Please slow down. This climb is harsh * _

At the top of the climb there was the perfect façade of Fortuna, where people walked around them in the artificial light of the city. Aomine wasn’t used to the core of the towns as he was a creature of their slums. But Kuroko, he appeared cleaned enough to belong to the upper world.

“Well, this is where we split.”

_ * Aomine-kun, thank you * _

“Nah. Give me that watch.”

Kuroko smiled as he took off his watch. Aomine knew it from the start that it was a rusty useless object. However, he hid it in a pocket of the belt.

“Hey, be careful around here. Some Seekers work there too and if they see you or your dog… okay?”

Kuroko nodded. He was pressing the note against his chest and for an instant Aomine had the impression he wanted to communicate something, but then Kuroko waved a hand to greet him and took a step behind.

“Goodbye.”

Aomine stared hypnotized at the pages of the note as Kuroko leafed through them. What was he looking for? What did he want to tell? Aomine was hoping for something he couldn’t explain though words.

_ * Goodbye * _

Aomine felt a bitter grin on his lips.

“Really, what was I expecting?”

He spoke his mind when he was so far from the bright lights of the city that he couldn’t see anymore.The look-alike flames flickered in the lanterns hung at the slimy poles, creating dancing spooky flames on the dirty narrow street. At both sides he was surrounded by rows of doors sequencing one after the other.

“What are you looking at? The sky?”

One of the Sasaki twins exited from a door and Aomine lowered his eyes on him. Who was him? Shouta? Souta? He couldn’t distinguish them, they were so alike that everything, from their smell to their attitude, was the same, as if they were the same person split into two. He didn’t like them at all, but in Fortuna they were the only ones who could pay his work well enough and accepted _certain merchandise_.

“How much?”

Sasaki threw a little sack to him. Aomine weighed it on his hand and glanced back puzzled.

“What the hell?”

The merchant gave him an ambiguous smile.

“My brother and I have found a more valuable merchandise.”

“Really, what?”

“Well, you.”

Another voice, identical to that of Sasaki, replied to him and the other Sasaki brother appeared behind his twin. They were disgustingly smiling and Aomine sighed.

“Oh yes, I’m pretty valuable.”

“Inhumans are one of the rarest beasts and one kindly came to us to be sold.”

The twins showed him an identical greedy look and Aomine understood that playing fool wouldn’t have helped him anymore.

“Well, come and try.”

Aomine gave them his back, heading for the exit. But as he put all his weight on the right leg, it suddenly felt so light it seemed like it disappeared and he fell down on the left knee. He managed to move his arms to avoid colliding the face with the floor, but a sinister crawling was spreading from his hands and he ended up lying down.

A pair of feet walked in front of his face. He heard the other twin behind him.

“I told you brother, the powder of the lake would have brought him at our feet.”

Aomine wanted to reply, however the crawling spread to his mouth, giving him a bothering tickling. He spread his lips, yet not a sound came out. He was burning in anger, an anger that the pulses of his mind weren’t able to convey to his body. And his mind was slowly falling in a silent oblivion blurring his thoughts. It was like falling asleep, but without the unconsciousness: Aomine realized that every part of him was sinking inside a deep darkness and he was scared of it without feeling any physical hint of fright.

“What are you trying to say?”

_ Go die, you bastards! _

And as if his thought materialized, the twin in front of him knocked down unconscious.

“What–“

The single word of the other one was strangled in a suffocated scream. Aomine heard a far noise behind him. He didn’t know what had just happened, he didn’t know and even didn’t try to make a hypothesis. Aomine threw away his pride and hoped for someone to help him.

A pair of hands turned him, yet Aomine closed his eyes filled with the rolling lights exploding in front of him and he fell into the oblivion.

 

 

 

He woke up.

His head was buried in a comfortable white pillow. Aomine closed his eyes again and sighed in relief at the sensation of his heavy body resting on a soft bed. It took him a while to notice that a hand was holding his. Turning the head was more difficult than he remembered, his neck was so stiff he was afraid it would have cracked. And it did, loud in the silence of the room. His head fell on the other side and blue hair tickled his nose.

Kuroko was sleeping next to him. Aomine was aware of what happened before he lost his consciousness and he somehow connected all the pieces he had without questioning further, as the only one who could reply was asleep.

The door opened. Aomine stiffened.

At the entrance of the room there was a huge man he only saw once and didn’t even talked to. He tried to say his name and realized his mouth was dry and he needed to drink water.

“How are you feeling?”

“…Kiyoshi Teppei, isn’t it?”

He licked his coarse lips, but it wasn’t enough. He glanced at the bottle in his hands and fought against his urge of resting, sitting down to reach the container handed to him. The water flowing inside his throat was of a magnificent freshness and Aomine stopped drinking only when the last drop reached his tongue.

“I would have never imagined–“ Kiyoshi said taking back the bottle. “–we would have met again like this.”

“Neither did I.”

Aomine turned to Kuroko, then caught Kiyoshi’s soft smile. He repelled his will of knowing what happened and why Kuroko was there, so laid back on the bed.

“Oi…”

He blocked Kiyoshi’s on the doorstep.

“What happened to the twins?”

“Well, they’ll have a huge headache for a while.”

_ Good… _ Aomine thought enjoying the warmth around him. _Good._

As he closed his eyes, he fell asleep. When he woke up again, Nigou was walking on the bed, while Kuroko was trying to keep him away from the blankets.

“…hey.”

Kuroko froze on the spot. He stared at Aomine for an endless instant before rushing to grasp his note. It was a new one, the cover was different.

_ * How is Aomine-kun feeling? * _

“Fine, fine…” He growled. “Ah, I had to expect the powder of the lake.”

All the grief for what happened turned into a sudden rage: he was an idiot thinking that everything in his life would have run smoothly without no one getting to know his secret. He couldn’t hide anywhere.

_ * Aomine-kun, are you hurt somewhere? * _

“No.” Nigou sat down on his stomach and he stroked his head. “How the hell did I get here?”

Waiting for Kuroko to write down his reply was a sweet recall.

_ * I traced the signal of the watch I gave you. I wanted to talk to you, but *  _ Something had been cancelled and rewritten. _* I didn’t know how to ask you. Then I hit those two. You should be more careful when you deal with such sneaky looking people *_

“Yes, I know, I know.” He replied to that part before reading the sentence below, a bit distanced from the previous one.

_ * Aomine-kun, why don’t you care about yourself a bit more? * _

Kuroko was looking at him in wait.

“I am an Inhuman. I care enough to be alive.”

_ * What if I wasn’t there? * _

Kuroko was glaring at him with severe eyes.

“Why do you care? You think I have your friend’s heart? Why don’t you go and ask me what part they inserted in me?!”

Aomine talked too much -he realized it too late- and Kuroko slammed the note on his face.

“Hey!”

A single word occupied the page Kuroko showed him.

_ * Idiot * _

There was grace and elegance in the cold rage that surrounded Kuroko as he walked away from the room. Nigou jumped down from the bed and followed him with his tail straight up.

“Ah… damn it.”

Aomine remained alone for a range of time he wasn’t able to measure.

Kiyoshi knocked at the door, entering without waiting for a reply. He had a tray with some food that Aomine gladly welcomed.

“You argued with Kuroko.”

He wasn’t accusing him and it wasn’t a question either.

“So what?”

“Nothing. It’s been a while since I was him pouting like that. I guess I should thank you.”

Aomine wondered what kind of relationship Kuroko could have with Kiyoshi, one of the few Inhumans he personally knew. He eagerly munched on the food under his attentive sight, emptying the plates as if everything was delightful.

“Do you want me to do something?”

Aomine cleaned his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Something?”

“Don’t play the foul with me. You are kind, I know, but you are also sneaky whenever you want.”

“Ah, that doesn’t sound like a compliment.”

Kiyoshi Teppei was truly a good person. Aomine knew it from the voices he heard among Seekers, but mostly because he dealt with dicks every day and could smell those who were decent living beings. Kiyoshi smelt like a decent living being. However, he also hid a feeble trace of danger.

“I feel better. I’ll leave tomorrow.”

“Already?”

“Yes. Already. I need to keep on with my job if I want to survive.”

Kiyoshi took the tray. “That’s right. However, looking at your surroundings is a nice hint to survive. You are an Inhuman, not an immortal.”

He left Aomine staring at ceiling.

“Mpf. I know that.”

 

 

 

Evening.

In Zone 5 night and day interchanged abruptly without the gradual shading that the artificial lights of the biggest towns provided. Every late afternoon Kuroko looked up and imagined if back then, before Ground Zero devastated the Earth and its atmosphere, the natural light also died slowly in the slumber of the night. When also the last big light switched off, leaving only tiny glimmers to point at the paths, he lowered the cover of the window. Then something soft smacked hard on his head.

He turned with a glare: Aomine was holding his old notebook.

“Hello.”

Kuroko gave him a long creased look. It didn’t seem at all he was intentioned on writing down something, so Aomine thought he had nothing to say. Or he didn’t want to interact with him.

“When I was in the laboratory, they told us they were preparing new organs for us. The organs were modified in order to change our bodies little by little and making them strong enough to adapt to every ecosystem on the Planet.”

He started abruptly and Kuroko relaxed his eyes. He looked surprised.

“They brought ill children. I discovered this later, after the escape, you know. I had a bad illness, I didn’t know the name nor have ever tried to know it. But they kept telling me my organs were going to root sooner or later. And they operated me a day after I started bleeding from every hole.” Aomine scratched the back of his head. “I really don’t remember it very well, but I coughed blood and then fainted, I think… when I woke up I had the surgery already and I was in a room of the hospital. All my inner organs had been replaced. They told me so.”

Kuroko shook his hands in front of him, trying to make him stop, however Aomine slapped them gently.

“I had to recover, but nobody came to see how I was doing except for the doctors. Nor my best friend.” He stopped for a second and avoided Kuroko’s look. “And when I could go back in the dormitories, everybody looked at me with severe eyes. They didn’t tell me the organs were those of some of us, I read it on some documents. The heart was that of my best friend… you know, I don’t even remember her face well…”

Aomine peeked at Kuroko. He expected to see inside his eyes pity, sadness, maybe tears. But Kuroko was just giving him a neutral look that made Aomine feel at ease.

“And this is the story. I don’t have the heart of your friend. And I acted like a dick before.”

Kuroko scribbled without putting much emphasis on the act.

_ * You did * _

“I hurt you, didn’t I?” They looked at each other. “Sorry.”

The tiny smile on Kuroko’s face was more reassuring than everything he could have ever written down. He started writing something and Aomine spied on the page, but Kuroko gave him his back.

_ * I want to find who has my friend’s heart because I want to see what kind of person it is. His name was Ogiwara Shigehiro * _

“I don’t know the name.”

_ * It’s stupid, isn’t it? * _

“It was more stupid falling inside my trap.”

Kuroko chuckled and his beauty increased. Maybe because he didn’t show many expressions the smiles and laughs suited him more than to anyone else Aomine knew.

“…do you have any clue on how to find that Inhuman?”

Kuroko shook his head.

“I know someone. I guess he could help you, probably. He is worth our trust, not like the twins, I swear!”

Aomine hurried to reassure Kuroko as soon as he noticed the disappointed glare.

“I mean, Akashi tends to control everything around him and looks down on everyone, but he plays nice. We can leave tomorrow if you want.”

Waiting for a written reply wasn’t bothersome for Aomine. Somehow it took him little time to get used to the range of silence when Kuroko created his words to communicate with the world. The sound of his pen scribbling on the slightly rough paper counted those moments of soft tension between them.

_ * Aomine-kun, I don’t have any money. I can’t pay you. And I don’t want you to sell me or Nigou either * _

Aomine jolted reading that and waited for Kuroko to write more.

_ * I realized it when we were in Zone 5. I’m not stupid * _

“I know.” He sighed. “I don’t want any money, Tetsu. I’ll help you, I mean it.”

Kuroko observed his serious expression, the line of his eyebrows with a slight inflection of grief, and his firm eyes. He nodded and turned the page.

_ * Thank you, Aomine-kun. You’re a kind person * _

Nobody had ever called him _person_ whenever they came to know his  true identity. Aomine lowered his head as tears itched the corners of his eyes. He looked back at Kuroko when he was sure he wasn’t showing anymore any sign of his sudden weakness.

_ * Aomine-kun, you cried? * _

“I didn’t!”

_ * You were * _

Aomine smashed the note again on Kuroko’s head and heard him laughing.

That night Kiyoshi found them sleeping on the unhinged couch, Aomine laying on his back and Kuroko facing down on him, using his chest as a pillow. Their quiet faces gave the impression that no trouble was persecuting their lives.

**Author's Note:**

> I enjoyed reading the first part after so many months, I gained back some confidence about my style and I'm truly satisfied with this plot and how I showed Aomine and Kuroko's relationship. I hope you all enjoyed it too :)


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